Bambu Lab A1 mini gets price drop and new features via firmware update

Bambu Lab’s entry-level FDM (Fusion Deposition Modelling) 3D printer, the A1 mini, was launched to high praise last year, as it introduced a lot of beginner-friendly features as well as optional multi-colour printing capability at an equally beginner-friendly price point. Now, the company has announced a price reduction for the A1 mini, along with some new features via firmware update. 

The A1 mini (base configuration), originally priced at $299, is now $249, while the AMS Lite Combo, which enables multi-colour printing, is now $399, down from $459.

The new firmware update also introduces some pretty handy features to the already capable device. ‘Air printing detection’ pauses the printing process and alerts the user any time an issue occurs with filament flow, leading to unprinted movement. This feature requires the AMS Lite module to work. ‘Build plate detection’ does not actually detect the plate, but raises a verification alert before each print job to ensure that the user has not forgotten to place the build plate, as doing so could potentially damage the printer.

Nozzle clumping detection, as the name suggests, prevents filament clumping at the nozzle by probing the nozzle at the edge of the build plate every 8 grams of filament usage. Lastly, Bambu Lab has introduced remote SD card browsing, meaning one can now delete and print jobs, and manage time-lapse videos from the available files on the microSD card remotely from the Bambu Studio software.

The A1 mini – and its elder sibling, the A1 – have been praised for raising the bar when it comes to ease-of-life features for entry-level 3D printers, thus allowing beginners to achieve high quality prints without taking great pains to learn and fine-tune every parameter. This largely involves a suite of automatic parameter-calibration steps before each print job, including active flow-rate compensation, belt tension adjustment, resonance calibration to reduce vibrations, z-offset adjustment and bed-levelling. The motor noise cancelling feature too has been received well. Arguably the biggest draw, however, is the option to add the AMS Lite module for multi-colour printing and filament management.

Both configurations of the A1 mini are now available at the reduced price on Bambu Lab’s website.

You can buy the very comparable Anker M5C and the larger, more capable Anker M5 3D printers on Amazon.